Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability

September 15, 2021

Video available at: https://youtu.be/N2Fh68VnYZc

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. So, this is such an important week for the recovery in New York City. Schools open full strength, that's extraordinary right there. Broadway back, we talked about that yesterday. New York City coming back, fighting back on so many levels. And there's a lot of energy, a lot of purpose, a lot of focus. But one of the other things that New York City always does is we create, we innovate, we find new solutions even the midst of crisis. We know that to keep this recovery moving forward, it's all about safety. It's about safety from COVID. It's about public safety. And we continue to innovate new ways to keep our community safe.

Today, a really powerful announcement, how we stop gun violence, how we stop crime at the grassroots, at the community level. This is something a lot of folks have talked about for a long time. How do we get at the root causes? How do we address the situation before it happens? One of the things we constantly hear from leaders in neighborhoods all over the city, from folks who understand what's happening on the ground – they say, there are young people who are teetering on the edge, who could go the right path or the wrong path. They need opportunity. The best way to keep people away from the bad influences is positive opportunity. Today, we announce a jobs program, an anti-violence jobs program, a targeted jobs program to make sure that young people who need a better path have it. We're focusing on neighborhoods hardest hit by gun violence, that includes a Mott Haven and other neighborhoods in the Bronx. It includes East and Central Harlem, South Jamaica in Queens, Brownsville, in Brooklyn. We're creating 1,500 jobs to start. 1,500 jobs is a lot when you consider the fact that the violence in the city has done by a few thousand people out of 8.8 million. It's only a few thousand people. This is something our police commissioners have made clear over the years, it's a small number of people do the violence. Every single person we divert to a positive path helps all of us. So, 1,500 jobs, $37 million investment. This is happening right now. And they're not just jobs, they're good-paying jobs, they're green jobs, they're jobs with a future. We're working with a great Brooklyn-based climate technology, startup BlocPower. This is a wonderful – it's a firm that's doing amazing work, that's socially conscious, that is trying to solve multiple problems at once through their work, and I really appreciate that, giving opportunity, addressing the climate crisis at the same time. This is a focused effort to find the right young people who need this opportunity in the right neighborhoods and make a difference all around. When a young person has a job and a future, they do not get involved in gun violence, period. This is what it's all about.

I want you to hear from the person who made this possible, who believed in this vision and is helping us create it. And he founded this company to do these good works. My great pleasure and introduce the CEO of BlocPower, Donnel Baird.

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Mayor: Well, you chose well, and she chose well. Listen, thank you. This is making a big difference on the ground and we really appreciate it. And we're proving we can get something very big done. Thank you so much, Donnel, for all you're doing.

Donnel Baird: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Now, here's another piece that's all about addressing inequality, creating generational wealth, changing the playing field, reaching people at the grassroots – baby bonds. This morning, a beautiful little moment, Williamsburg Bridge Magnet School in Brooklyn, gathering with kids who are the first class that will be getting baby bonds. About 70,000 kindergartners in New York City will be getting baby bonds this year, the first $100 on the road to much, much more that will allow them, when they get ready to graduate high school, to go to college. This is a concept that's powerful. This is the first time this has been done on this scale anywhere in this nation. New York City, leading the way. And really, credit goes to our Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity. A special thanks to the Executive Director Sideya Sherman. These are leaders of color in this administration who said last year, we need to take profound and fast actions to address inequality, systematic racism, the fact that resources are not equally distributed. Here's a way to create generational wealth. It's powerful and New York City is going to prove it can be done on a vast scale. So, we met some of the kids this morning who will be the first beneficiaries. I want to thank all our partners in this work, some of whom gathered with us this morning, who have done amazing work, building this concept to the point now it will be universal for every kindergartner this year and every year thereafter.

I want you to hear why this is so important. First, someone who's fought for this on the State level and joined us this morning. He's a passionate voice for equality and the progressive values evinced by baby bonds. My pleasure to introduce Senator Mike Gianaris.

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Mayor: And, Mike, we learned this morning, because we talked to a lot of the kids, they're actually, even as kindergarteners, they're getting the idea that money is going to go into that bank account and it's going to mean something for them. We also learned there's going to be a lot of kids who ended up being police officers, firefighters, and ballerinas –

State Senator Michael Gianaris: And a scientist –

Mayor: There was a scientist, too. We need those. That's good. Thank you so much for being a crucial part of making this happen from day-one. Thank you so much, Senator Mike Gianaris.

Now, City Council believes in this strongly. There's palpable excitement about baby bonds as a difference-maker, about doing it on a vast scale. A leading voice – he also knows so much about what matters for our kids, because he spent years as a public school teacher at the frontline, educating children. So, the notion that every child will have a chance and the resources go to college, I know it means a lot to him. My great pleasure to introduce Council Member Danny Dromm. I think he's out there. Can you hear us, Danny? [Inaudible] all right, Danny, you're good to go.

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Mayor: Thank you so much, Council Member. I’ve got to tell you, you're hitting a really important point. This becomes something much greater than just a savings account for college, because it grows as fundraising has done, foundations, and philanthropies get involved. The family – this is what we're hearing – Sideya Sherman talked to me about the phenomenon, not only the immediate family, the extended family starts to contribute. Everyone has pride in that child. That child's feeling that pride in the investment. And we've heard beautiful stories in public housing developments of neighbors, having fundraising events to support an individual child. And these are folks that don't have a lot of money themselves, but they believe in that child as their future. It starts something that grows, and grows, and grows, and becomes a community imperative. And imagine if you're that child, hearing constantly that people believe in you and want to help you, what a boost. You know what that means for self-esteem. And so, thank you for being one of the people leading the way on this.

So, as we started, as I mentioned, you know, this is such a crucial week for the city. School coming back, the biggest school system in the country, and amazingly strong lift-off of the school year. Credit to Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, and her whole team, and all the educators, all the staff out in the schools. Really smooth first days of school. We see great things happening and a lot of excitement. People just excited to be back – the adults, the parents, the staff, the teachers, but also the kids. Everyone's excited to be back. And people are getting vaccinated. So, here's an update. We now have almost 3,000 students and staff who got vaccinated in the school buildings in the first two days, and that number keeps growing because we have vaccination sites in every single building with kids 12-years-old and up throughout the week. We're going to keep emphasizing this. This number is going to keep growing and every time someone gets vaccinated, everyone else is safer. Before I go to the indicators, tonight, obviously a very special and holy night for Jewish New Yorkers. I want to wish everyone after all we have been through, as you prepare tonight, I wish everyone an easy fast, and a meaningful Yom Kippur, a time of reflection after one of the toughest times we've all lived through, but then we prepare for better times ahead. So, I offer my wishes to all Jewish New Yorkers at this special time. 

Let's do our indicators, and the first one again is a good one. Number of doses administered to date, 11,106,486. Great number, growing strong, you're going to see this number continue to go up again in these next days, especially because of both the incentives and the mandates having full effect over the next few weeks. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 150 patients, confirmed positivity 31.88 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, today's number is 1.12. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report 1,536 cases. A few words in Spanish, and I want to go back to this very innovative effort to protect communities, turn young people to the right path, this anti-violence employment initiative.  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Marcos Soler, the Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, by Chancellor Porter, by Small Business Services Commissioner Doris, and by Sideya Sherman, the Executive Director of the Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity, and also by Dr. Ted Long. The first question is today goes to Emily from NY1.  

Mayor: Emily? 

Question: Good morning. Good morning.  

Mayor: How’re you doing?  

Question: I'm well, thank you. This is a question for you, Mr. Mayor, for Commissioner Chokshi potentially. I'm interested to know the updated data on breakthrough infections on the effectiveness of the vaccine. The city side doesn't appear to have been updated since August 17th. I know there's a lag in numbers, but what's it looking like more recently?  

Mayor: Go ahead, Dr. Choksi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, sir. Our site was updated just on Monday, two days ago with the latest information on our breakthrough analysis, we show this in terms of comparative rates between unvaccinated people and vaccinated people, and what it shows is consistent with what has been shared in the past, which is particularly for severe outcomes the risk for unvaccinated people is significantly higher than for vaccinated people on the order of 10 to 12 times as high for unvaccinated people compared to vaccinated people. And for cases that is, you know, the risk of infection, the risk is also significantly higher for unvaccinated people anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 times as high. I'll be happy to follow up if you want some additional details and we will be updating that data regularly on the site going forward.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Emily. 

Question: Yes, and Mr. Mayor, regarding Rikers Island, the potential release of detainees there, are you considering using your authority to institute the [inaudible] early release, the work release program to get some of the people out of there? 

Mayor: That's not our focus right now, Emily. The focus is the work we're doing with the state, and I want to thank Governor Hochul and Lieutenant Governor Benjamin, who both have been very responsive and very concerned. We, first of all, want to see the Less is More Act signed and implemented immediately. It was actually sponsored by then Senator Benjamin. That's going to allow us to immediately take hundreds of inmates out of Rikers the right way. There are hundreds of inmates who can be moved to State prisons appropriately who are supposed to go there. We want to see that be sped up. There's supervised release, which can be used more on the front end, we're urging the courts to do that for non-violent offenders. And most importantly, getting the court system up and running. We'd like to see hundreds of cases scheduled immediately to get the whole process moving and we're working with the court system on that. So, that's where we're talking about hundreds and hundreds of people who could be moved out of Rikers quickly and we are hopeful on all those pieces, but we need a lot of cooperation from the State and the court system to make that happen. 

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?  

Mayor: Good, Michael, how are you doing today? 

Question: I’m doing all right. I wanted to ask you about this temporary restraining order that was issued regarding your September 27th vaccine mandate can you tell us, you know, what that means mechanically? You know, the restraining order I believe lasts until the 22nd, what does this mean for the city moving forward on these vaccine mandates? How are you guys going to proceed? 

Mayor: Yeah, it doesn't change our approach. It's a very temporary action to get to the court date where the actual case will be heard. We're very, very confident in our legal position. So, we're just continuing to build the framework for full implementation on the 27th. Go ahead, Michael. 

Question: Thank you. I have a question goes back to Rikers as well. You were talking about corrections officer that are “AWOL” yesterday and I talked to a former Rikers warden yesterday, you know, who believes part of this problem has to do with the fact that these guys are working, you know, double and triple shifts. He talked about how, you know, Board of Correction guidelines set out that, you know, they're not supposed to be working more than 16 hours straight and are supposed to have 10 hours between tours. So, you know, from his perspective, people are “AWOL” because they're going home after a triple shift and not really having time to recharge for the next shift to start, so they're not showing up. And, you know, I mean, I get wanting people to show up for work, but how do you address that? You know, what I mean, people are working very long hours and they need their rest. I mean, how does, [inaudible] yesterday – 

Mayor: Yeah. I don't know who you spoke to, and I don't know exactly what their perspective is. I do know this, there are a lot of good hardworking officers who are going every day to Rikers and to other jails and doing the job. This is all created initially by COVID. All of these dominoes fell because of a horrible crisis that really deeply affected jails and prisons in particular. We used to before COVID have plenty of officers. This situation has gotten exacerbated more and more, and we need officers to show up. It is their job. It's their duty. That's what the vast majority are doing. And when everyone shows up when they're supposed to, it's what allows us to end the triples and reduce the doubles. We don't want that, of course, we don't want that, but there's a catch-22 here. If people don't show up than other people suffer who are doing the work. So, no, everyone's got to show up for their job. Let's get through this. We can get through this. We're going to greatly reduce this prison - excuse me – this jail population with these actions, with the help of the state and the court, and I'm very hopeful on this. We do that. We're beating back the Delta variant. Everyone comes to work. That's what solves the problem. 

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Hi Mayor, This is a follow-up to the question about the restraining order, why are you so confident in your legal position? 

Mayor: Look, Andrew, we believe when you're talking about a Commissioner's order in the middle of a global and a space like schools, and you're looking at everything that's been done, from the President of the United States, the CDC, et cetera, and we're employers. We have a right to keep our workforce safe and healthy. We feel all those factors make very clear the correctness of our position. Go ahead. 

Question: On the issue of school attendance, do we have better clarity on how many people, how many kids are showing up? Is that percentage changing, and have you isolated or sort of identified who the children are who are not coming to class?

Mayor: I want to tell you the number from Tuesday, 84.1 percent. So that's a noticeable and important increase from Monday, and we expect that number to keep growing. Andrew, again, I understand and appreciate everyone wants instant results and hard facts, and I do appreciate that, but I really want to emphasize, because I've been around schools issues a long time: it will be weeks until we get the full picture because parents, as the Chancellor said, are literally showing up with their kids for the first time. That happens this week, that happens next week. Parents are moving to different places for a variety of reasons. It just isn't going to be entirely clear for several weeks. What the final reality is, what we care about is what do we see as our initial start – being at 84 percent yesterday? I know the Chancellor's very satisfied with that. I'm very satisfied and we know that's going to grow quite a bit.

Moderator: The next is Jessica Gould from WNYC

Question: Hi, thanks for taking my question. I wanted to talk about the petition that DC 37 filed with the Office of Collective Bargaining. They're acting on the concerns of their members who say conditions in the offices aren't safe. Why was it so important for them – for the city's workforce to return to the office on September 13th? Especially if state workers aren't expected to return until at least October and why not take a more gradual approach?

Mayor: Well, I've spoken to this before, Jessica. We respect the State of New York, but we don't make our decisions based on the state. We make decisions based on what's right for New York City. Our schools are back, so much of the life of the city is back. Our public servants do the best work when they're in person at their offices, we are putting the, as of this week, the vaccine or test mandate in place for every single employee. We can do that best when people are in person. It's time, it's time for people to be back at their offices, doing the jobs they were hired to do. Go ahead.

Question: And then a follow-up to that. Where should employees go if they need to report problems like the windows won't open or HVAC issues?

Mayor: Always to their supervisor. I mean, a lot of work has been done by a Citywide Administrative Services, by Health Department to prepare workplaces. When we brought back the workforce in may we heard a lot of concern initially before people arrived, but once people arrived, we were able to show how well organized the effort was just like in the schools, we took the same concept, that gold standard of health and safety measures. We applied it in public buildings. It worked once people were back you didn't hear much because it was working and we're very confident, but if there's a specific problem, we want to know about it right away, let their supervisor know.

Moderator: The next is Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader.

Question: Yes, Mr. Mayor, thanks for taking the call. Just to follow up, Henry Garrido from DC 37, penned an op-ed in the Daily News where he said there was too much work left to be done. Office conditions at city agencies have not been thoroughly checked to ensure that they're safe by today's standards. And then he mentioned that “so desperate as a city to implement this policy, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services removed the social distancing requirements still recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Is that accurate?

Mayor: We are following all appropriate health and safety standards. This has been done thoughtfully, working with our health leadership, and the whole concept, Bob – that's why I just dispute that – the whole concept here has been to create healthy, safe workplaces, but also get people back where they can do the best work and we could maximize vaccination, which is ultimately the way we end this crisis. Go ahead.

Question: When I first visited my office at City Hall back in May, there was a representative from DCAS present who oriented me to the situation. City Hall City Council-side was entirely dark. I had not seen them return except for in person public hearings. Is there data being collected that could give us an actual sense of how many remote workers are actually coming back? Because it's been my direct reporting experience from going in that there has not been people coming back to the desk. Is this something that you're tracking and is this a notable number that you can produce for the public and for the media?

Mayor: We're certainly tracking it because people are expected to come to work. I'll get you an update. What I'm hearing overwhelmingly is people are accepting that this is a specific instruction to report to their workplaces and do their jobs and people are honoring it. But I'll get you an update for sure.

Moderator: The next is Yoav from The City.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, I wanted to ask you about the lack of provision of school busing for kids who attend special education schools that started before September 13th. Do you have an explanation for why they weren't provided busing?

Mayor: You're saying that started before the 13th.

Question: Yeah.

Mayor: Let's turn to the Chancellor. Can you hear me okay?

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Yes, I can hear you.

Mayor: Could you hear that question? Go ahead.

Chancellor Porter: Yes, I heard the question. So, our busing services weren't ready to turn around for the early start this year after Summer Rising, but what we did do was ensure that every family – we contacted every family and provided them access to private transportation, prepaid, both to and from school, and many, many families took us up on that offer.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Yoav.

Question: We heard differently about the rate of families that that's – you know, many of these kids can't just hop in an Uber and go to school. We heard of one school that has 100 students and only 15 we're able to use that service. The DOE cited some kind of contractual and operational issues for the reason. You know, this is something that has to happen every year. This wasn't a surprise that these kids needed the service. School started later than usual this year. So, I'm wondering if you can detail what those contractual and operational issues were that prevented the service from being provided.

Mayor: Yeah, Yoav, I'm not familiar with those nuances. We can get someone back to you. Chancellor is there anything you'd like to add. Otherwise we'll get the details to you after.

Chancellor Porter: Yeah, we can get details from Kevin Moran so we can be specific.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor and everyone on the call. It is a beautiful morning indeed.

Mayor: James, you always put things in their proper perspective.

Question: I do appreciate that, we agree. Onto the questions. You talked about Vax to School, and that 2,900 people had been vaccinated through that program, but with it being – with the number of schools – I believe I'm getting these numbers right, 700 schools. That only averages four people per site getting vaccinated. Can you respond to those numbers and say what might need to be done to increase them?

Mayor: Yeah, it's a good question, James, but I want to put it in perspective. We are using every tool we've got. So, another 3,000 people is a big deal to us because – okay, let's talk about the 12 to 17-year-olds, they are now almost at 69 percent vaccinated – at least one dose. So, that's a constituency that's gotten a high level of vaccination already. Every single one matters. Obviously in schools, we're getting ready for the full mandate. We want to lock down each and every opportunity to reach anyone who's ready to get vaccinated. So, to me, this is with a high level of students, high level of staff, and teachers already vaccinated now we're just trying to add that up, and what we want is people to see it everywhere. Know it's easy, know it's free. Get people at the right moment. I like the overall trajectory a lot, and this is just another piece that helps us get there. Go ahead, James.

Question: Yeah, and follow up to the, I guess, the previous question regarding DC 37’s petition with the Office of Collective Bargaining. Mr. Garrido said today that the return to work is endangering employees of the city with the Delta variant rising. Can you just give a response? I get that this is all under litigation and you might be limited in some ways, but can you respond directly to his and DC 37’s concerns that their members are being put in danger?

Mayor: Absolutely. First of all, I care about the public workforce. I believe in them. Public workers, public employees have done so much during this crisis, but I remind you, James, about 80 percent have been at frontline jobs the whole way through. So, on a question of fairness and equality, if for a year and a half 80 percent of our workers have been out where the public needed them most, it’s time for everyone to be back where they can do the best work, which is definitely in the office. We are now consolidating our vaccination effort for public employees, making sure that goes to full strength is absolutely crucial for this city. So, it's really the right time and we've done the things to keep people safe. That's what matters in the end, and we've done the things to keep people safe. I'm quite confident of it. So, you know, I understand unions will take whatever actions. We feel confident, both in our legal position, but also in our moral position that this is the right thing to do for the people of New York City.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Ben Brachfeld from the Brooklyn Paper.

Question: Hi, can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, Ben. How are you doing?

Question: I’m reasonable. Thanks for taking my question. I was hoping to ask, does the City have a way for people to track which businesses have been subject to enforcement in relation to the vaccine mandate, like for example, an online portal or a map or something, and also how many businesses have been subject to enforcement already?

Mayor: I’m going to turn to Dr. Chokshi with a preface. I have not heard of such a portal and not sure that's something we would be publicly doing that way because the goal of course is to address the issue. Just, we're not trying to do anything, but get people compliant. And what we're hearing overwhelmingly is positive compliance, or sometimes there's something that has to be adjusted and addressed. But Dr. Chokshi tell me what you're hearing and if you have any other answers to that question.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Sir, that's right. I don't have anything to add with respect to the portal. We do encourage, you know, if people are finding that there's something that they're concerned about, you're welcome to report it via 3-1-1. But as the Mayor has said in previous days, you know, our focus in terms of enforcement around Key to NYC is first to support the vast, vast majority of businesses who have embraced this requirement as part of you know, keeping their staff and their clientele safe. And then for the places where there may be remaining issues, to support them in enacting the requirement going forward.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Ben.

Question: All right. And my second question is about Rikers and it's just – do you have plans to visit Rikers before your term is up?

Mayor: Yeah, Ben, I talked about this yesterday. I want to make sure first and foremost, we get this plan in place. We've got a lot of work to do with the state. We've got a lot of work to do to maximize the efforts here and the other agencies that we need to help correction. So, that's what I'm focused on now, but I will definitely be visiting at the appropriate time. And everyone, as we conclude today, again, a lot of happening this week, big comeback week for New York City, schools, Broadway, the kinds of new initiatives we're announcing today and more and more people getting vaccinated: the hinge to all of it. So, very important moment. We are beating back the Delta variant. That's what we're seeing more and more. A lot more to do, but we are beating it back with more and more vaccinations all the time. That's the name of the game. Thank you, everybody.

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